


And now you're here forever

by readergirl101



Series: Replaced [5]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Abuse, F/F, Fusion, Homeworld is Horrible, Off Colors, the abuse is mild but be aware my Morganite is not nice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:26:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25320847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readergirl101/pseuds/readergirl101
Summary: “Pearl,” Morganite’s voice was sickly sweet and it made Pearl feel sick. “What is going on here?”“I… we…  we were just…”“Don’t lie to me, Pearl.”“We- we were fusing…” Pearl mumbled, not lifting her eyes from the floor.
Relationships: Pearl/Ruby (Steven Universe), Rhodonite's Component Pearl/Rhodonite's Component Ruby (Steven Universe)
Series: Replaced [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1197421
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	And now you're here forever

The door was locked. Pearl had only checked a dozen times. Morganite had meetings all day, none of them important enough to bother bringing Pearl along, and wasn’t supposed to be back for hours. Pearl had checked her schedule half a dozen times as well. 

Ruby had snuck in half an hour after Morganite left.

Rhodonite was standing in the middle of Morganite’s chambers, her back to the door. Her eyes were closed, her arms wrapped around herself, holding her own hands. It had taken a while to really get used to being like this. Not just the physicality of it- being even taller than Pearl, seeing out of all four eyes, moving all four arms- but everything else she felt along with it. By now she had existed enough that it wasn’t strange anymore. And it was so much better than being alone. 

It was terrifying, one one hand. If anyone at all found out that this was happening… they would be shattered and replaced in a second. That was always there, and Rhodonite couldn’t forget it. But she felt a million other things as well. The lack of being lonely. The sense of being together. Something that was almost like safety. She wondered what real safety would feel like. 

But even being afraid was better than being afraid alone. 

Rhodonite didn’t notice as the door slid open behind her.

“What in the name of the diamonds-”

Rhodonite shrieked, spinning around, her eyes snapping open. Morganite stood framed in the open doorway. She was back early.

Rhodonite split apart, Pearl and Ruby spilling onto the floor. 

Pearly scrambled to her feet, trying to salute despite how badly her hands were shaking. “M-M-y- Morganite- we- um…”

“Shut up.” Morganite demanded. Pearl fell silent, her arms dropping. She was shaking, staring at her feet and wringing her hands together. Morganite was going to have them bother shattered. She had known this would happen eventually, they both had. Morganite slammed the door shut behind her. Pearl flinched. 

Ruby jumped up. “M-Morganite! We- you- you’re back..” she finished lamely. Ruby was trembling, although she hadn’t noticed it yet. She had never seen Pearl look this terrified. Ruby had never felt this terrified.

Morganite glared at Ruby, then turned her attention to Pearl.

“Pearl,” Morganite’s voice was sickly sweet and it made Pearl feel sick. “What is going on here?”

It wasn’t a request. Pearl swallowed, wrapping her arms around herself. Glancing at Ruby before locking her gaze on the floor.

“I… we… we were just…”

“Don’t lie to me, Pearl.”

“We- we were fusing…” Pearl mumbled, not lifting her eyes from the floor.

“Louder.”

“We were fusing…” Pearl repeated, barely louder than she had been the first time. It felt the words had burned through her throat and there was nothing she could have done to keep herself from saying them. It didn’t even matter. Morganite had seen them. It didn’t matter what either of them said. Morganite was finally going to make good on her threats to have Pearl replaced, and Pearl didn’t blame her this time. Only now it was going to get Ruby shattered too.

Morganite slapped her. 

“I made her do it!” Ruby shouted suddenly. She didn’t have a heart but if she did it would have been beating out of her chest. “It’s not Pearl’s fault! I’ve been making her do it!”

Morganite slowly turned to Ruby. “ _ Been  _ making her? And just how many times has this - _ fusion _ \- occurred?”

Ruby didn’t have a stomach either, but she felt it drop. She was an idiot- maybe if Morganite had though it was some sort of… one time accident she wouldn’t have Pearl shattered. Morganite had come back early on accident. She hadn’t been trying to catch them.

“Pearl,” Morganite spoke without turning to look at her when Ruby didn’t answer. “How many times has this…  _ thing  _ happened?”

Pearl was staring at Ruby. There was a mark on her face where Morganite had hit her. She had started to cry. She couldn’t help it. And she couldn’t stop herself from answering. “One hundred and thirty seven…”

They were going to be shattered. Ground into pieces. She would never see Ruby again. Ruby’s entire life was going to be ruined. All because of Pearl. 

“It’s not Pearl’s fault though!” Ruby said quickly. “I told you, I’ve been making her do it! It’s all my fault!”

There was a vase on an end table. It was bright pink. Tall and thin and Pearl had always hated it. It was ugly and useless and served no purpose. It was also very thick, and very heavy. 

“I do it all the time,” Ruby continued helplessly. “I just- can’t… um-” Pearl already knew that Morganite didn’t believe her.

Pearl picked up the vase and swung it as hard as she could at the back of Morganite's head.

The vase shattered, leaving Pearl holding nothing but a long ceramic shard. 

Morganite gasped, spinning around, “You little-”

Pearl shoved the shard in her hands forward, stabbing Morganite through the stomach.

Morganite froze. Her eyes seemed to bulge out of her head, and the she disappeared in a puff of smoke, her gem clattering to the floor. Pearl dropped the shard, where it broke into half a dozen more pieces. 

Ruby and Pearl stared down at Morganite's gem.

“You… you poofed her,” Ruby said.

Pearl tugged her hands through her hair, then twisted them together, then tugged on her hair again. They finally landed on her face, “Yes.” She nodded. “I did. Oh stars! We are so so shattered!”

“How… um..” Ruby couldn’t move. She wanted to but she couldn’t do anything except stare at Morganite’s gem. “How long does it take her to reform?”

“I- I don’t know,” Pearl mumbled. “I’ve never seen her do it.” She reached down and picked up the gem, more for something to do than anything else. “A- a while? Probably… I- we’re going to be shattered…” 

“Yeah,” Ruby sat down heavily. The ground was littered with pottery shards but she didn’t care. Ruby wasn’t sure when she had started crying. “Pearl, I don’t want to die.”

Pearl was staring at the gem in her hand. It didn’t really matter what either of them did now. She could wipe all the security footage she could, make up whatever lie she wanted about what happened to Morganite. But eventually Morganite was going to reform and then there would be no hiding what had happened.

Fusing was bad enough. Pearl had just poofed her owner as well. Pearl dropped to her knees. She probably should have been sobbing, but she was too shocked to do much of anything at all. Pearl sunk to her knees. Some of the shards were cutting into her legs but she wasn’t sure she cared.

“We…” Ruby started.

“There isn’t any we anymore, Ruby,” Pearl said, refusing to look at her. “They’re going to shatter both of us and no one will ever know where we went.”

“Where we…” Ruby lunged forwards, grabbing Pearl’s hands. “That’s it! We need to go!”

Pearl blinked, “What? Go- go where?”

“I don’t know,” Ruby admitted. “Somewhere? Pearl, I don’t want to die! And I don’t want to leave you and- I want to be Rhodonite.”

“I… I want to be her too. But we…” Pearl was still staring down at Morganite’s gem in her hand, Ruby’s hands now wrapped around hers. “There… there are old Kindergartens… they basically run through the whole planet… no one ever goes down there anymore, not to the really old ones…”

“No one would look for us there I bet…” Ruby agreed.

Pearl finally looked up, “They… no… we could fuse.” She smiled a little. “We could fuse all the time.”

Ruby grinned, although it looked a bit forced. “Yeah! We could! Just like we wanted!”

Unable to help herself Pearl laughed a little. Being fused all the time… It had been a silly wishful fantasy and now… they were going to do it. 

Pearl set the gem down on the table that had once housed the vase, scrubbing her eyes. “I should wipe the security footage. I mean- at least that way they’ll have to wait for Morganite to reform to know what happened.”

Ruby nodded, taking a step back as Pearl went to the computer terminal. They were really going to do it. They’d be alone forever, providing that they weren’t eventually found and shattered anyway. She’d never see another Ruby again. Pearl would never see another Pearl again. They’d be completely alone.

But it never felt like they were alone when Rhodonite was around. 

“Okay,” Pearl said, finishing with the computer. “You can hide in my gem until we get down there.” Pearl probably wouldn’t be stopped, not if she pretended to know what she was doing. Her entire body was still trembling. It was good no one ever noticed her. 

Ruby stood, dusting dust from the vase off her knees. “You can do that?”

“I mean, I’ve never done it before, but I know we can do it,” She had heard it felt a bit weird but that was the least of their problems right now. “Oh, one more thing.” Pearl strode to the window, yanking down the hideous pink curtains that she had always hated and ripping them in half.

This time, Ruby actually laughed. “Are we ready?”

Pearl nodded. “Yes. We are.”

**Author's Note:**

> I figure they've been secretly fusing for a while by now


End file.
